Fast and Easy Ways to See Immediate Improvement in Your Photography…
THE NOTEBOOK
Most courses in photography start out by discussing either composition or by telling you that you need to use a tripod.
While composition is a very important component in great photography and while using a tripod can be vital at times - there's a beginning step that is rarely mentioned but is vital to your photo education.
The first thing you need to do is start a notebook! From this day forward, you should record every shot you take.
With the rise of digital photography and the ease of manipulation in Photoshop, most photographers - particularly amateurs - are losing skills that were essential back when film was king.
When you knew that it was going to cost you between $10 - $20 to have your film developed and printed, you took a lot more care with each shot! These days, I constantly see people - with digital cameras - rapidly firing away. They'll shoot hundreds of photos hoping to get one or two "good ones". All pretense of skill has been replaced by a fast trigger finger.
Any really great photos they get are accidents and cannot be repeated.
That is NOT how to master photography. If the thought, "I'll fix it in Photoshop" ever crosses your mind…immediately take your finger off the shutter and rethink the shot. Your goal is to have every photo be perfect - in camera.
You can do this with your notebook.
Your notebook doesn't have to be fancy, just something that you can put in your camera bag or in your pocket. A big three ring binder with color coded tabs may be pretty to look at, but face it, you aren't going to lug that thing around with you in the field. If you have the tenacity to transcribe your pocket notebook into the fancy binder, go for it. But first just get a pocket notebook.
You will want to record the data for every shot you take.
You will want to record: the frame number, the date, your subject and location, what kind of film you're using (if you are shooting film), the film speed (or the digital equivalent), the type of lighting (ambient, incident, etc.), your f-stop, shutter speed, camera & lens, and any filters you are using.
Those are the basics. In addition - your route to photo mastery will be greatly shortened if you pre-visualize every shot and write in your notebook what you expect to have happen.
I know that with digital, you can see the results right away, but taking the time to imagine what you want and writing it down - before the shot - will tremendously enhance your learning.
Side note: Educational studies have shown over and over that if a student is asked a question (one they don't know the answer to), and they are asked to try to guess the correct answer before being told, they'll do much better on subsequent exams than students who were just told the answer.
Along those same lines…your photos will improve much faster if you try to pre-visualize the result first - before shooting!
Later, you will compare your actual photo with your pre-visualized goal. If you got exactly what you wanted, note that in your notebook and put a star by it so you can find it again.
In this way, every time you want a shot to turn out that particular way, all you have to do is refer to your notes for the settings needed. It makes it easy to duplicate your masterpieces.
Soon, you won't need to refer to your notes. When you see a situation, you will know exactly how to get the desired shot.
If the result WASN'T what you pre-visualized, make a note of that too and write down one or two thoughts on how you could solve the problem. The next time you're shooting, try your new ideas! See if they solve the problem. Keep doing this until you get what you wanted! Now you'll be able to repeat those results any time you want - just by referring to your notebook!
I hope you can see the power in that. It is the fastest route to photo mastery there is.
Yes, it takes a little extra effort to keep a notebook. And yes, it will slow down your shooting dramatically. The good news is, in a few short weeks when you go somewhere with your friends and you are all merrily shooting away…you'll find that they will shoot hundreds of photos for one or two "keepers", while you are getting almost ALL "keepers".
If you want terrific photos, the first rule is: Keep a notebook.
PHOTO EXERCISE
1. Get a notebook.
2. Grab your camera and go out and shoot either a roll of film or shoot 36 digital shots.
3. Pre-visualize what each shot would look like in a perfect world and write it down. Take the shot.
4. When you get your film or digital images, compare them with your pre-visualized goal. Do this later - not in the field. It will teach you to write better pre-visualizations if you later have to figure out what you meant.
5. Analyze your shots. Aside from your pre-visualization comparison, what else did you learn? No matter what, NEVER do a photo session without trying to learn something. No photo is perfect, find the flaws and learn to fix them.
Next time…PART 3 - Composition: Beginnings
Tuesday Fairy Shoot
My "sisters" fairy session last Tuesday went great...I'll be posting some images in my next post, along with an amazing real-life fairy tale. Don't miss it!
Take care and happy shooting!
Mary Kay
Gold Leaf Productions
www.goldleaf-art.com
513-877-2995
p.s. To illustrate that you don't need fancy equipment to get good photos, the image of Fountain Square in Cincinnati (above) was taken years ago with a 5-megapixel camera, and remains one of my favorite images ever!
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